Work on the long-awaited Port Fairy skate park could start as soon as late 2023, with council officers confident they've found a potential site for the facility.
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Infrastructure and environment director Edith Farrell told Moyne Shire Council's June meeting officers had analysed several sites in recent months but had zeroed in on one in particular.
"We have now determined a potential site and there will be broader community consultation in early July," Ms Farrell said.
The council wouldn't reveal the exact location of the new site because it hadn't finished consulting with other organisations that use the area, but Ms Farrell said it was in Southcombe Park. The existing skate park in the town was closed to the public in January 2021 and the original site for a replacement facility had to be scrapped because of concerns it might interfere with the nesting area of the migratory Japanese wading bird Latham's snipe.
A group of local skaters vented their frustration at the lack of progress in March 2023, with one saying locals were "really angry about it". Ms Farrell said the project could proceed quickly if the community consultation for the new site went smoothly.
"We then anticipate the detailed design works could commence by the end of July with a final design being presented to the September (council meeting)," she said.
"And dependent on the outcome of the budget going through today there is a proposed allocation for the works and we would get started post-September, all going well." As well as the skate park, the site would host a new "regional level" playground that would feature junior, middle and senior-level equipment.
The council has put aside $1.7 million in its 2023-24 budget to build the playground, skate park and stage one of Port Fairy's bicycle strategy.
Ms Farrell said the council still planned to build the skate park according to the original plans drawn up in 2022. She said she believed construction would commence in late 2023, but a council spokesperson said that timeline might be optimistic, given the requirement to tender for the project. Either way, Port Fairy will very likely have its new skate park by 2024.
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Ben Silvester
Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne.
Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne.
